Report 2017-302 Recommendation 3 Responses

Report 2017-302: Judicial Council of California: It Needs to Follow Competitive Bidding Processes More Consistently and Establish Clear Guidance for Invoice Processing (Release Date: December 2017)

Recommendation #3 To: Judicial Council of California

To ensure that Judicial Council staff have the information they need to process invoices appropriately and to comply with the judicial contracting manual, the Judicial Council should develop by June 2018 one document with clear invoice-processing procedures for its accounting staff. This document should define the steps for processing invoices related to different types of purchase agreements and common exceptions to the typical process, including instructions for handling invoices processed on behalf of other Judicial Branch entities.

6-Month Agency Response

On July 1, 2018, the Judicial Council and the Courts of Appeal will transition to a new accounting system called Fi$Cal. Preparing for this significant transition has been the primary focus of accounting staff, who are simultaneously preparing our end-of-year accounting entries for fiscal year 2017-18. This transition to Fi$Cal will likely require minor revisions and refinements to our invoice processing procedures; however, implementation of Fi$Cal will also result in the Judicial Council having an invoicing process that is substantially similar to other state agencies that use Fi$Cal. Procedures governing invoice processing will ultimately be developed and shared with staff as part of the Fi$Cal deployment.

Estimated Completion Date: December 2018

Response Date: June 2018

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status:
Pending

60-Day Agency Response

Staff from the Judicial Council's Branch Accounting and Procurement (BAP) unit are in the process of revising and clarifying its local invoice-processing procedures.